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DOMESTIC MINOR SEX TRAFFICKING

Overview

• Human Trafficking

• Child Sex Trafficking

• Pimp Subculture

• The Role of Money

• Why don’t victims seek help?

WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?

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True or False?

Trafficking victims must be foreign nationals.

FALSE

Trafficking victims can be either US citizens or foreign nationals. According to the TVPA of 2000,

both are equally protected under federal law.

True or False?

Trafficking requires a state or international border-crossing.

FALSE

Although transportation may be involved and although the word connotes movement, the legal

definition of trafficking does not require transportation.

Trafficking is a crime against a person,

not necessarily against a border.

True or False?

If a trafficked person consented before the abuse or was paid, it can still be trafficking.

TRUE

Consent prior to an act of force, fraud or coercion is not relevant, nor is payment.

A minor in commercial sex is automatically a trafficking victim.

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True or False?

Elements of physical restraint or kidnapping must be present for it to be trafficking.

FALSE

The legal definition of trafficking does not require physical restraint. Psychological

control can be sufficient.

Human Trafficking Overview

Sex Trafficking

The recruitment, harboring, transportation, providing or obtaining of a person for a commercial sex act, in which the sex act is induced by force fraud or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age.

Labor Trafficking

The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, debt bondage or slavery.

FORCE

-Beating/Slapping

-Beating with Objects (bat, tools, chains, belts, hangers, canes, cords)

-Burning

-Sexual Assault

-Rape/Gang Rape

-Confinement/Locked in

-Torture Practices

-Seasoning/Initiation

FRAUD -False promises -Deceitful enticing and affectionate behavior -Withholding wages -Lying about working conditions -Lying about the promise of “a better life” -Preying on desperation and poverty -Blackmail, extortion

COERCION -Threats of serious harm or restraint -Threatened abuse of legal process -Intimidation/Humiliation (Pimp circle) -Emotional Abuse -Climate of Fear -Modeling abusive behavior -Controlling daily life skills -Creating dependency -Establishing quotas

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Smuggling vs. Human Trafficking

Smuggling

• A crime against a country’s borders.

• Illegal border crossing.

• Often transportation only.

• Can be a gateway to trafficking.

Human Trafficking

• A crime against a person.

• Involves forced labor or commercial sex acts.

• Transportation can be an element but is not required.

• Smuggling debt can be used as a means of control.

Scenario 1: Juan

• Juan is 17 years old.

• His family pays a coyote $3,000 to take him to the US to live with his cousin. The coyote takes him across the border undetected and he moves in with his cousin.

Smuggling

Scenario 2: Juan

• Once Juan arrives in the US, a man tells him that he owes $5,000 more in the form of a transportation fee and to pay him back, Juan must work picking citrus.

• Between the smuggling debt and transportation fee, Juan now owes $8,000.

Human Trafficking

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Trafficking in the US

Sex Trafficking

• Street Prostitution

• Massage Parlors

• Residential Brothels

• Escort Services

• Online Exploitation

• Hotels & Motels

• Truck Stops

• Exotic Dancing/Stripping

• Pornography

Labor Trafficking

• Domestic Servitude

• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing

• Construction

• Peddling & Begging Rings

• Factories

• Service Industry (hotels & restaurants)

• Small Businesses

CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING

MAKING OF A GIRL

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Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the US

• Estimates vary but most experts would agree that over 100,000 children in the US are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

• Average age of entry into prostitution is 12-13 years old.

• Complex relationship between male (sometimes female) pimp and one or more women and/or girls.

• The pimp wields complete control and domination and induces commercial sex acts in order to make money.

• The pimp uses intense manipulation, feigned affection, brutal violence, and verbal, psychological and/or emotional abuse to gain complete control.

• Motivated primarily by the pursuit of money, all of which he keeps.

The Pimp Subculture

• The Term “Daddy”: Women and girls under a pimp’s control must never know his real name or identity and refer to him exclusively as “daddy.”

• Eye Contact: A woman or girl may not ever make eye contact with another pimp. If this rule is broken, the woman or girl suffers serious physical violence.

• Sidewalks and Streets: As indicated by the term “Pimps Up, Hos Down,” women and girls must always exist in “lower” ways than the pimp, including by standing only on the street during street prostitution.

• Quotas: Pimps set nightly monetary quotas that the women or girls must reach through providing commercial sex or theft.

Rules & Techniques

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• “Daddy”—used to describe one’s own pimp.

• “Bottom” or “Bottom Bitch”—the woman who’s been with the pimp the longest and often takes on a mid-level controlling role to keep other victims in line.

• “Dates,” “Johns,” and “Tricks”—terms used to describe buyers of commercial sex.

• “Square”—a term used that describes trying to go straight and get out of the life, or that describes law enforcement and those who don’t understand “the game.”

• The “Stroll” or “Track”—the common area or cross-streets where street prostitution is known to occur on a nightly basis.

Language & Terminology

• “Pimp Circle”—the process of multiple pimps swarming and surrounding one woman or girl and hissing insults at her, for the purposes of humiliation and intimidation.

• “Wife in Law”—each individual in a group of women or girls that are with the same pimp. “Family” and “folks” are synonyms.

• “Stable”—refers to the group of women and girls under a pimp’s control.

• “Out of Pocket”—a term used to describe when a woman or girl breaks “the rules” by making eye contact with another pimp.

Language & Terminology

Occasional Indulgences

Demonstrating Omnipotence

Monopolization of Perception

Degradation

Trivial Demands

Induced Exhaustion

Pimp Tactics

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Pimps manipulate their victims beginning with an initial period of false love and feigned affection. This initial period is critical to attaining long-term mind control and includes:

• Warmth, gifts, compliments and sexual and physical intimacy.

• Elaborate promises of a better life, fast money, and future luxuries.

• Purposeful and pre-meditated targeting of vulnerability (e.g., runaways, thrownaways)

• Purposeful targeting of minors due to naiveté, virginity and youthful appearance.

Recruiting Behavior

Pimps are known to engage in constant recruiting to attempt to entice women and children into their web of control. Common recruiting locations include:

• Junior high and high schools

• Courtrooms

• Hallways of court buildings

• Foster homes

• Malls

• Bus stations

• Group homes

• Homeless shelters

• Halfway houses

• Restaurants and bars

• Parks and playgrounds

Recruiting Locations

The process of “breaking down” a girl from having healthy adolescent sexual

boundaries to having commercial sex with

strangers is often referred to as “grooming” or

“seasoning.”

It is a systematic process that has been documented and

replicated by pimps nationwide.

“Seasoning”

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• Beating/Slapping/Whipping

• Burning of personal items or the victim

• Sexual Assault—Rape or gang rape

• Confinement

• Other torture techniques

• Emotional Abuse

• Re-naming

• Creating dependencies

• Removal from familiarity and support structures

• Document confiscation

• Forced sexual education by way of forcing victim to watch pornography

“Seasoning”

Boiled down to its very essence, money is oftentimes the primary motivating factor driving pimp behavior.

Quotas

• Typically fall in the range of $500-$1,000 each night.

• Victim must reach these quotas by whatever means necessary in order to eat or sleep.

• Strictly enforced. Punishment is severe.

• Victim keeps none of the money. 100% of the profits go to the pimp.

The Role of Money

Based on the low end of the quotas:

$500/night X 7 nights a week X 5 girls/women =

$890,000 Per year

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Examples: Tattoos

Red Flags & Indicators

An expressed interest in, or in relationships with adults or older men

Frequenting of internet chat rooms or sites that advertise commercial sex

Unexplained shopping trips or possession of expensive clothing, jewelry, or a cell phone

Use of lingo or slang from “the life” among peers, or referring to a boyfriend as “Daddy”

Inconsistencies in their story about where they stay or who is their guardian

Constant communication with multiple men

Reluctance to explain a tattoo/branding

Keeping late-nights or unusual hours and vagueness concerning whereabouts

• Captivity/Confinement – locked indoors, locked in rooms, locked in closets

• Frequent accompaniment/guarded – interactions are monitored or controlled by the pimp

• Use and threat of violence – severe physical retaliation (beatings, rapes, sexual assault)

• Fear – of physical retaliation, of death, or of arrest

• Use and threat of reprisals against loved ones – against children or family members

• Shame – about the activities they have been forced to perform

• Self-blame – brainwashed by the pimp to blame themselves

• Dependency – on the pimp after years of control

Why don’t they seek help?

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• Debt bondage – may have a debt to the pimp that they feel they need to pay off

• Loyalty to the pimp – Stockholm syndrome, similarities to Battered Women’s Syndrome

• Social barriers and unfamiliarity with surroundings – due to frequent movement

• No personal ID or documentation – which is often confiscated by the pimp

• Distrust of law enforcement – brainwashed to fear law enforcement by the pimp or learned distrust of law enforcement due to direct negative experiences

Why don’t they seek help?

• Isolation – from others, from other support structures, from means of relief

• Misinformation and false promises – have been told lies or deceitful information

• Hopelessness/Resignation – feelings of no self-worth, disassociation, giving up, apathy

• Lack of knowledge of social systems – may not understand social service infrastructure or how and where to access help

Why don’t they seek help?

• Frequent movement – may not be in one place long enough to form social connections

• Distrust of service providers – generalized impressions and perceived judgmental attitudes

• Lies and false stories – may be self-generated or trained to tell lies, fake names, fake SSN

• Rarely come into contact with institutional systems – that are designed to help them

• Low likelihood of multiple encounters – within institutions or through doing outreach

Why is it hard to identify victims?

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Partners include: • District Attorney

One D.A. assigned to CSEC cases in each of the three offices throughout the County.

• Children & Family Services • Department of Behavioral Health • Probation Department • Sheriff’s Department • Children’s Network • Public Defender • San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools • Local 2-1-1 Resource and Referral Hotline • Local non-profits & Community Groups

First Meeting was in March, 2009

What is CASE?

Funding: • Provided by Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63) • Innovative • Learning Focused • Time Limited

CASE Team

Formed in late 2010 and comprised of: • Coordinator (Children’s Network) • Therapist (Department of Behavioral Health) • Social Worker (Children & Family Services) • Juvenile Probation Officer (Probation Department) • Social Worker (Public Defender)

Currently developing direct services and linkages to services within the community: • Intensive Case Management • My Life, My Choice & Deceptions Curricula • Survival Backpacks • Training & Education

Services

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Exploring options for: • Housing • Legal Services • Medical & Dental Services • Basic Needs • Vocational Training Opportunities • Recreational Options

Services

Dial “211” from any phone 24/7

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) www.missingkids.com 1-800-THE-LOST (800-843-5678)

National Human Trafficking Hotline 24/7 www.polarisproject.org 1-888-3737-888

Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation

Anne-Michelle Ellis, Coordinator (909) 383-9677 (non-emergency)

anne-michelle.ellis@hss.sbcounty.gov sbcase.eventbrite.com

facebook.com/sanbernardinoCASE youtube.com/sanbernardinoCASE

Resources